Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Unedited

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Mystery.

My life is clouded with it.

From when I was little, I never understood the layers of mystery that surround my existence, and in some ways I still don't. I never understood why I couldn't play with the other pups my age, or why I couldn't go camping with my school in the neutral territory a few miles west of our house. My dad always looked at me and said it was too dangerous, even when I was constantly supervised by other members of the pack.

By the time I was twelve I understood why my dad was protecting me, but I didn't understand what was wrong with me.

My first shift happened when I was at school. I was sitting in my history classroom when a bone splitting crack shot off, my leg twisting painfully underneath my body. It was utter agony, I had never felt a pain like it. Not even when I broke my leg learning to ride a bike with Lyle or when I fell headfirst down a flight of stairs because I fell over my dad's slippers.

They had carried me home and given to me to my father who was utterly confused as to why I was in so much pain. A normal shift is supposed to take around three hours, the pain is supposed to be hard but bearable. My pain on a scale of 1-10 was an 11, and that was me playing it down to my dad, to make him think I was strong.

My dad couldn't work out why my pain was worse than that of anyone else combined, even more so than the late shifters when their first shift is in adulthood. My father couldn't understand, but he understood after I fully shifted a day later, way longer than any wolf shift ever recorded.

Shiva was the same size as an adult wolf, even though she shouldn't have been. Your wolf is supposed to grow with you, celebrating birthdays and christmas with you as you grow and mature together. At the same time. Shiva was a pup at heart, with the strength and heightened senses of a fully capable, fully adult wolf. Because she was still a pup, and it's in her nature to develop, she developed her skills to far greater than that of even the most powerful alpha on the planet.

I had to be kept a secret.

And once again, I'm being kept in the dark as to what exactly I am, and what I'm capable of.

Last night, my mum and Dad didn't give me a very helpful overview of what they knew in regards to me suddenly being able to move water with my mind. They just shared a look with each other, the secret looks between them that only they understand as they mindlink one another.

"Come, let's sit." They had said as they led me into their new living room.

They basically told me everything in riddles, every sentence and phrase encrypted with obscure phrases, finishing everything with "You will understand in time, Luna will show you the way."

I'm not a massive fan of cryptic puzzles, or phrases that make zero sense to me. It requires me to actually think about what a person is telling me. I was never good at riddles or "who am I" games, because I can never click the pieces of the puzzle together in my head to make a bigger picture.

I'm always left with jumbled pieces that I know are connected, which leaves me infuriated and almost hating myself.

Just by looking at them I can tell that they know exactly what's happening to me. I'll admit I'm crap at interpreting things, but I'm very good at reading people. I can tell when someone is upset or someone is hiding something from me.

Like now.

I mastered this skill just by being in the presence of Sophia for too many years. Because she wanted to be the best warrior this pack had ever seen when she was little, she always bottled up her feelings to appear tough and in control.

But I knew when she was upset, I still do, and I knew just what to ask when we were just in the company of ourselves.

I got sick of them dodging my questions, answering in any way that wasn't straightforward, so I hugged them both goodnight and retreated to the spare bedroom for the night, deciding to ask them again tomorrow.

Except they had left by the time of woken up.

I had walked downstairs, my feet donning a pair of fluffy slippers my mother had given to me to wear as well as some of her pyjamas, the sound of my footsteps muffled by the thick carpets on the hallway floor.  There was no smell of pancakes, something my mum does whenever she's awake before me, nor was there a lingering scent of my dad's favourite aftershave.

There was a note stuck on the door with a fridge magnet, my mother's beautifully cursive writing spelling my name out on the front.

"We have gone away to deal with pack negotiations, per the Alpha's request, sorry we had to leave before you woke up.

Love you very much,

Mum and Dad."

I'm slightly hurt that they couldn't stay, or that they didn't tell me, but they have responsibilities now and that's fair enough to them.

They finally get to leave the pack and go see the world, something I'm slightly envious of.

After reading the letter a couple of times, I don't know why I did, I grab myself a cereal bowl from the drying rack by the sink, and I rummage around the kitchen cupboards for the cereal and a spoon.

I settle on some Cheerios, my mum and Dad not really having anything interesting to eat because they're old and particular, and I'm just pouring the milk into the bowl when there's a loud knock on the front door, the sound vibrating around the large, empty house.

Technically I shouldn't be here, so after much deliberation I decide they're looking for my parents and they mustn't know that they've left for a business trip.

But they don't go away, I can hear their ragged breathing on the other side of the door. My curiosity is peaked at what they want, and I use my heightened sense of smell, I realise that the scent is familiar, a scent that has become comforting over recent weeks, mixed with a twinge of antiseptic, blood and a mixture of other chemicals.

I grab my cereal and take it to the door, eating spoonfuls of Cheerios on the way. The impatient raps on the door explode around the house once again, the high ceilings creating echoes.

"I'm coming." I grumble, a dribble of milk falling down the front of my mum's pyjamas. Trying to talk with a mouthful of cereal is neither a sensible nor delicate action, and I can barely understand the words that come out of my own mouth, so I feel sorry for Jasper trying to understand me.

"What're you doing here?" I ask when I open the door. Jasper is stood on the porch steps, dressed in tight black jeans and a grey hoodie, a gilet pulled over the top and a grey beanie pulled down low over his blonde curly hair.

He looks tired, the heavy bags under his eyes indicate no sleep last night. I know because I used to have them. He also looks paler than usual, his usually dark caramel skin taking a whiter turn for the worse.

He hops from one foot to the other nervously, his lip caught between his naturally sharp teeth, but he still has the nerve to smirk when his eyes catch onto the fact I've spilt down my front. "Lola you need to come back to DawnStar."

I place my cereal down on the cabinet beside me and I cross my arms over my chest, both to appear unimpressed and to hide the milk. "I don't want to. If Kaden is going to send his lapdog, no offence, to come get me then he obviously hasn't matured enough to apolog...."

"He doesn't know I'm here." Jasper interrupts, rubbing his eyes violently with the heels of his palms. I watch as he winces slightly when he raises his arms, so I watch as he pulls them back down to his side, a look of pain still on his face. My eyebrow raises with interest, and he takes that as a sign to continue. "Last night he went completely off the rails."

My chest constrics at the thought of him hurting, even though I'm still upset. I know that it's the mate bond talking, Shiva pining after the wolf she's never met, but the pull I feel to him, especially after getting to know him over the last month and a bit, due to feelings that I think I've developed.

"What do you mean?" I question, and a look from Jasper tells me to shut up and let him tell me.

"News that you'd left the territory spread, and since you're now officially Luna, people were concerned that something had happened, which it obviously has given your reaction." Jasper says, wringing his hands out in front of him. "As his beta, people came to me to express their worry and I told them I'd head over to the house to check it out, and I'll report back to them."

I bite my lip nervously, my worried facial expression an exact mirror of Jasper's. A sinking feeling in my stomach makes me feel like Kaden has gone absolutely nuts and it's obviously my fault because I left.

"I went over to your house last night and he'd trashed everything. He'd thrown a chair through the windows, ripped everything to pieces, punched a hole through your TV. The place looks like you got burgled."

My hands fly up to my mouth at the thought of him trashing the house his parents spent so much time and effort making, guilt settling in the out of my stomach.

"I went in to try and calm him down." Jasper winces, like the thought of the encounter pains him. "And he was so drunk I don't think he knew what he was doing. He wasn't listening to anything I was saying, and when I tried to go over to him he slashed at me."

Jasper unzips his gilet and lifts the bottom of his bloodied shirt up to reveal fresh, deep scars across his inked skin. "He got me pretty deep but I'll be fine I cleaned them and they should heal pretty soon."

I grab my coat off the hook and pull it onto my body, slipping on my trainers without tying the laces and following Jasper down the drive to his car. I quickly lock the door before jumping through the passenger door that Jasper is holding open for me.

Because I know that he needs me, and I want to be there for him.

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The house is a mess, I can see that before we even pull up on the driveway. Jasper wasn't lying when he said that Kaden had smashed the front window. Splintered remains of the dining chair lay scattered across the driveway, the cushion stuck on a piece of the jagged glass dangling precariously from the window.

I step out of the car, the sound of my feet crunching against the gravel driveway the only sound that surrounds me. The lack of wind is leaving the leaves of the woods still, and no birds are calling out their songs. There isn't even a rustle of the bushes to tell me that there is wildlife out there.

There's nothing.

The mood is downcast, like even the pack territory knows their alpha isn't in a good place.

I turn back to see Jasper hover by his car door as if he's deliberating whether or not he should join me.

I subtly shake my head, letting him know that he doesn't need to back me up. I can see that he visibly relaxes, his shoulders sagging with relief, and I can hear him release a small puff of breath in relief.

I don't think he's quite ready to see Kaden again either.

I push open the door, the smell of sweat, booze and wolfsbane hitting me like a brick wall.

The poison clogs up my nose, my eyes watering and my breathing becoming laboured within seconds. It's hanging so thickly in the air that it's coating my skin like a second layer, absorbing through my pores.

The room looks even worse from inside. Everything is shredded, the curtains turned into small patches of cloth sitting fully on the floor, the sofa cushions slashed with claws, and he's even punched a large fist-sized hole in the TV screen.

There are several empty bottles of spirits cast aside on the floor, a half smashed tumbler glass sitting on the coffee table that has been overturned and cracked in half.

I shake away my lightheadedness and the feeling of guilt that that settled in the pit of my stomach and follow the faint sound of Kaden's heartbeat towards the staircase that will lead me upstairs.

The photographs that once lined the walls of the stairs, ones that contained picture of Kaden and his family, lay either lopsided or shattered, the glass frames littering the dark wooden staircase.

I pick up a small photograph of Kaden with who I'm assuming is his mum from when he was much younger, a small boy with floppy black hair and a gap toothed grin. His cobalt eyes are shining with happiness, it's clear as day, and his mum is looking at him like she couldn't be prouder.

Kaden doesn't talk about his family much, but I know they're not dead. Rumours travel quickly amongst werewolves, and seen as though his parents were alpha and Luna and his pack is next door we would've been the first to hear about it.

It's also been rumoured they're enjoying the sun in Mexico, but they haven't been seen in just under 5 years after Kaden claimed the alpha title.

I can hear his heart beat, calm and steady in my ears as I push open the door to the room he said was his office at the end of the hall. The room is just like the rest of the house, completely destroyed, with his computer laying in four snapped pieces at my feet. The desk is completely void of anything, suggesting he's swept everything off it onto the floor. The dark brown carpet can barely been seen underneath the mountains of papers and pencils and office style furniture. One bookshelf has been toppled over and is currently half hanging out of the window.

The air is thick with the scent of wolfsbane and whiskey, just like the rest of the house, making my throat constrict at the poison.

And then my eyes latch onto him, and all of my breath gets caught in my throat for a whole different reason.

He looks a complete mess. His hair is sticking up in all directions, and his appearance is dishevelled. His shirt is creased and half open, large brown stains all down the front, clashing dramatically with the once white colour. A tumbler glass is held limply in his hand, the glass empty except for the amber remnants swirling around the bottom.

Blood coats his entire hands, the red staining the sleeves of his already ruined shirt.

His ice blue eyes snap up lazily to meet my own when the door creaks, his face void of emotion but his eyes holding so much desperation.

He sits up straighter in his seat, swallows harshly, and says a word so quietly, and so raspily that I barely understand him.

"Hi."

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Hello guys, it's ya girl tangleteaser over here.

I've finally got my head around where this book is going, meaning it's much easier to write the chapters now.

I'm still going to update once a week just in case I hit writers block in the future, but if I end up having enough halters in the bank I may treat you on occasion, just saying. 😉

If you don't follow me I just want to tell you guys, and thank you a hundred times over for getting this story featured in the werewolf section of Wattpad.

I'm super duper happy that you guys are liking this story, and little surprises like that make writing so much more worth it.

That's why this chapter is a few days early.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, they'll be lots of KODA in the chapter so hold onto your hats folks.

Again, thank you so much!

Lots of love

Lauryn xoxox